In this day and age, mobile phones have quickly become more of a necessity than a luxurious accessory. Ever since the release of the first ever bulky cellular phone device (thanks to Dr.Martin Cooper of Motorola – who invented the very first modern-age mobile telephone device), cell phones have now become our day to day companion, which are sleeker and handier in terms of size and functions. Staying in touch with our family, friends, and office colleagues has never been this easy and speedy!

But more than a text and talk gadget, how did cell phones revolutionize the way people connect, socialize, interact, or even live and work?

A pocket-full of amenities rolled into one

If there is one single adjective that best describes today’s mobile phone, it is “multipurpose”. With the countless tricks and things that we can now do using but a pocket-sized computing unit, it is simply a pleasant showcase of versatility. Mobile phones in the past could only allow you to place or receive calls or send SMS messages.

But these days, your smartphone can serve virtually all of your communication needs locally and internationally! And not just by simply talking to someone via voice data. You can now also send and receive emails, access all sorts of information via the Web, watch movies, listen to music, and utilize all the other media platforms that you can easily perform using your mobile. Not to mention tons of existing (and still to come) phone apps these days. And you can literally do all that anytime, anywhere.

The other side of the coin may not be as good

The significance of cell phones in today’s living is indisputable. Immense (and maybe still unknown) changes that this cool piece of invention may bring in the future may also be unstoppable. For now we could only hope that this brings people in the world closer and closer in the most positive way.

Poverty is instigated by the lack of the right resources, lack of access to markets, hospitalisation and an ignorance of the current trends and requirements. But these days we have cell phones that help the poor to stay in touch with the current trends and give them a better shot at moving with the world, and to benefit from its progress.

Living in a third world country should not hamper an individual from making the best of his abilities. Cell phones are now less expensive than they have ever been, and the United Nations have taken huge steps in this respect.

The United Nations millennium villages project provided cell phones to villages across 10 poor South African countries and then noticed that with the increase in cell phone usage the country’s GDP increased. This boom in the mobile industry has taken the world to the next level. The poor and the rich alike, are benefiting from this ingenious invention.